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Jabronski Williams is heading into his first season as head baseball coach at Goshen High School but the Troy native is no stranger to winning.

Williams was a three-sport athlete at Charles Henderson, earning All-State honors in football as a senior. Baseball was his true love, however. Williams began his college career at Wallace Community College in Selma before wrapping up his college career at Alabama State. 

At Alabama State, Williams earned All-Conference honors in 2021 and boasted a .298 career batting average with 13 home runs, 75 RBIs, 15 doubles, seven triples and 103 runs. On defense, he held a .956 fielding percentage with 135 putouts and three assists. 

Following his playing days, Williams started his coaching career as a graduate assistant at Alabama State before being named as an assistant football and baseball coach at Goshen last year. 

“It’s been amazing,” Williams said of his first offseason with the Eagles. “We’ve had a lot of chance to grow since June. We brought back summer workouts and summer practices and these guys have bought in and they love the game a little bit more this year. I think we’ll get better results than we’ve seen in the past.” 

Goshen returns senior leader Tyler McLendon, who boasted a .295 batting average last season with 18 runs, three RBIs, one double, one triple and 15 stolen bases. This season, McLendon will be the definition of a utility. 

“He’ll play everywhere,” Williams said of McLendon. “He’ll be our ace in the hole, he’ll pitch, he’ll catch, he’ll play shortstop and he’ll play centerfield. With a guy like that you have to let him be versatile and move him around.” 

McLendon is also one of the players Williams is looking to lean on as a leader heading into the 2025 season.

“Our seniors have taken on the leadership role and our underclassmen have followed in line with them,” said Williams. “Tyler McLendon is a great player and the guys love him. We have a new addition, Grant Taylor, who is a great player and will be a leader. Mason Adar is a guy I think will have a breakout season and Cody Boyett is another senior leader. We have guys on this team that can lead us each and every day.” 

Williams is focusing on sharpening his team’s mind as much as their skillsets.

“Being mentally strong is something we’re really working on,” he emphasized. “Baseball is 90 percent mental and 10 percent skill. If we can continue to practice hard and know that you’re going to fail, but you have to overcome failure, sand if we can do that I think we’ll have a successful season.”

When Williams took the job at Goshen he was focused on building a foundation for the future but also said that he expects to win and his Eagles will never shy away from competition. 

“We want to make the playoffs,” he flatly said. “We’re not shying away from any competition. We’re going to play hard every single day and I think we’ll have a good chance to compete and make the playoffs this year.”